PHILADELPHIA — Unless you’ve been in a cave or on the far end of the Clearwater Threshers’ bench — equals when it comes to pleasantness — you know that the Phillies could really use a prospect to come up and live up to whatever the high-end expectations are of him. (OK, everyone can stop glaring at Domonic Brown, now.)

It seems that Ken Giles, at long last, is giving the Phillies a prospect who can step in and be as good as advertised.

The right-handed reliever had a mercurial rise through the minors since impressing at the Arizona Fall League last year, dominating at Double-A Reading for six weeks, then showing well for Triple-A Lehigh Valley when an injury to Mike Adams and a flood of extra-inning games all but forced the organization to be speedy with his promotion to Philly earlier this month.

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He probably isn’t going back to the minors anytime soon.

Since allowing Yasmani Grandal, the first hitter he faced in his debut, an opposite-field home run, Giles has been practically untouchable. Of the 20 batters he has faced since that ominous opener, a B.J. Upton ground single is the only hit opponents have. Two of them have walked. Twelve have struck out.

It is very early, but Giles has been very dominating.

When Ryne Sandberg saw Giles for the first time in spring training, his triple-digit fastball certainly impressed. But his off-speed stuff wasn’t sharp, and even if the right-hander had been lights-out, the fact that he hadn’t pitched above Class A Clearwater made his breaking camp with the Phils unthinkable.

Somehow, in two months Giles has returned to red pinstripes a complete pitcher.

“His control is a few notches better than when we saw him in spring training,” said Sandberg, who used Giles for a third straight day in Tuesday’s 7-4 win over the Marlins. “He’s throwing strikes, especially early in the counts, and even when he expands and goes out of the strike zone, those are pitches he’s getting swings at. He has a good demeanor about him — really confident.”

For as much as the readings on the radar gun for Giles’ 97-100 mph heat draw the attention, it has been his sharp slider that has been his out pitch. Already he has humbled MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton twice with the pitch this series, and when he starts the pitch on a path to the strike zone, nearly every hitter has his bat hurriedly attempting to get his barrel to the ball, only to see it dive away.

“It looks more sharp, that he’s throwing it harder and showing it enough in the strike zone that when he goes out of the strike zone hitters are really cheating,” Sandberg said. “(Hitters) have one thing in mind, and that’s a 100 mile-per-hour fastball. He’s even throwing two or three fastballs then throwing (a slider) not even close and getting half-swings on that. It says a lot for him either hiding the ball, the deception or both.

“It’s a tough combination. Hitters have to be on his fastball. It’s a reaction thing — he’s getting all sorts of flinches and half-swings.”

If Giles records multiple strikeouts in his next outing, the six straight appearance with two or more Ks in relief would be the longest by a Phillies reliever since Ryan Madson had seven straight in 2005, and that’s tied with Charles Hudson and Dick Selma for the season record for multiple strikeout appearances as a reliever.

“I don’t know if he’s throwing harder, or his stuff is better or his stuff has clicked here,” Sandberg said. “I just know he’s getting ahead of hitters and that helps.”

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Cliff Lee got closer to a return to the mound Wednesday, as he threw a pair of 20-pitch sequences in the bullpen before the game, sitting down in between to simulate inning work.

Next on the agenda is work against hitters. That probably will take place Friday afternoon during batting practice. If all goes well then, you could see Lee making a minor-league rehab appearance sometime next week while the Phillies are on a 10-game road trip to Miami, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. The Phillies’ last series before the break is a three-game set against the Nationals in Philly July 11-13. That seems more and more likely the place where a Lee return would happen.

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NOTES: Jimmy Rollins had a swollen eye after a ball jumped up and hit him in the face Tuesday, but he was cleared to play. ... The Phillies should make an announcement Thursday as to which minor-league pitcher will be hailed to make a start in Saturday’s doubleheader against the Braves. The likely choice is Brad Lincoln, who started the season in the Phillies’ bullpen, but has been doing a good job starting for Lehigh Valley of late. He worked seven innings Monday, allowing two hits and two runs. He is 3-0 with a 2.17 ERA in his last five starts.